


Mistletoe

by Cocohorse



Series: Heavenscoin One-Shots [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Heavenscoin, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 06:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5407133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocohorse/pseuds/Cocohorse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It's mistletoe, Madame President!"</p><p>Someone's been hanging up some strange plants all over Thirteen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> I spent way more time on this tiny fic than was necessary because I accidentally lost my first version, whoops. Inspired by [this tumblr post](http://wintersoldeirs.tumblr.com/post/105612985368/important-otp-christmas-question-who-has-placed).

Coin stopped walking to frown inquisitively up at the small green plant hanging above her head. Identical plants dangled from red strings on the tops of other doorways. She had found them in the meeting room, in the cafeteria, in the control room, and even in her own quarters. For some confounding reason, people either crowded around them or avoided them like the plague. They either ran to them or away from them. She had not stayed around to see why this was the matter, but now she wanted to find out. She had never seen such things before, especially not in this strange, infuriating manner.

" _Mmf!_ "

Coin looked in the direction of the noise and temporarily abandoned her interest in the plant. Quizzically, she walked down the hallway to find out the source of the noise. At the very end of the hallway was a ladder, and on top of the ladder was Plutarch Heavensbee, who had just finished tying a green plant to the top of another doorway.

Frustration prickling at her skin, she wordlessly made her way over. Standing beneath him, she cleared her throat loudly and ordered, "Get _down_ from there, Heavensbee!"

Plutarch swung around at his name, nearly losing his balance on top of the ladder. But when he glanced down and recognized her, he broke into a bright smile. He obeyed and eased himself down the ladder. In his cupped hands were more of the green plants. He knowingly and patiently watched for her reaction.

She swooped down upon him without mercy and without a second thought. "Why on Earth have you been pinning those _things_ up everywhere?" she snapped sourly.

Plutarch's playing smile only widened into a grin. The man absolutely radiated a bubbling enthusiasm that could not be deterred by her usual verbal attacks. "It's mistletoe, Madame President!" he exclaimed, holding the handful of plants out to her like an excited child.

"Mistle _toe_?"

"Grew them myself in my own part of the greenhouse."

Her lips tightened as she searched her mind for something. "Is it dangerous?" she questioned, her expression guarded and measured as she inspected the unfamiliar plants at a safe distance. She could never be too wary of the ex-gamemaker. He obviously had more tricks up his sleeve.

Plutarch pulled his head back and laughed. "Dangerous? Why would I be carrying them around and showing them to you if they were dangerous?"

She felt a hot flash of irritation rush through her. "People are going to run into them."

"You're not supposed to _run_ into them," protested Plutarch. He clenched the mistletoe closer to himself, and his mouth seemed to dance around his words for a moment. "You're supposed to - to _kiss_ under them."

A beat. "What?" Confused and surprised, she threw a glance up at the mistletoe that he had just hung up.

Plutarch's cheeks grew pink, and he stumbled over himself in a struggle to explain. He pretended not to notice the mistletoe above them. "It's - it's a tradition we'd have in the Capitol during the holidays. You get two people underneath a mistletoe to kiss. I just thought it'd be a little amusement for everyone underground here."

Coin blinked and stilled herself until she became completely unwavering. She didn't know what to think, so she stopped thinking altogether. "Must I remind you that you're no longer in the Capitol, Mr. Heavensbee?" she warned evenly. Familiar words automatically came to her and they relentlessly pushed forward. "You're part of District 13 now, and we're in the midst of a revolution. These kinds of distracting festivities are not appropriate. You, of all people, should know that. Everyone in the district is getting sidetracked, and this will become a threat to our security. Now I want you to turn back around and take all of this down."

Plutarch's smile fell and vanished in the middle of his excitement and embarrassment. His eyes flickered and lowered softly, and his voice twisted like a metal cord. "But -"

Her stomach flipped over with guilt. Sometimes the president felt a twinge of sorry whenever she had to step over him and his ideas. It was a too-often occurrence, and it was happening again now. But simultaneously, her brain burned and angrily told her to _leave him, don't even think about him, you have better things to do than be around him_. Yet she wasn't thinking. She had already stopped listening to her brain. She sighed - she was so tired - and lifted herself up, placing a smooth kiss on the gamemaker's cheek.

Mistletoe fell out of his hands, scattering across the ground at their feet. As Plutarch hurriedly scrambled down to the floor in a fluster, Coin pulled back and turned away. "Don't forget to clean up the rest," she said.


End file.
